Nubya Garcia

Did You Know?

• Garcia has cited Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Mary Lou Williams as her musical heroes.
• She included the UK-based reggae band Steel Pulse among her musical inspirations.

Early life and education

Nubya Garcia, the youngest of four, was born in 1991 in Camden Town, London. Her mother, a former civil servant, is Guyanese, and her father is a British Trinidadian filmmaker. At five, she followed her older siblings to the Camden Saturday Music Centre, starting with the violin and later playing viola in the London Schools Symphony Orchestra. Growing up with a stepdad who played brass and a mother who loved music, plus the musical activities at Camden School for Girls, she absorbed a wide range of styles. She took up the saxophone at ten under Vicky Wright. Garcia joined the Camden Jazz Band, led by pianist Nikki Yeoh, and then entered the Royal Academy of Music’s junior jazz programme. She also participated in youth workshops at the Roundhouse and with Tomorrow’s Warriors, guided by Gary Crosby. While still in school, a scholarship sent her to a five-week summer programme at Berklee College of Music. During her gap year, she studied with Jean Toussaint, a former Jazz Messenger. In 2016, she earned an honours degree in Jazz Performance from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, graduating alongside Joe Armon-Jones and Moses Boyd.

Career

Nubya Garcia put out her first EP, Nubya's 5ive, in 2017 on Jazz re:freshed. That same year, her group opened for Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Festival in Sète, and in 2018 she performed at both the NYC Winter Jazz Festival and JazzFest Berlin. Her second EP, When We Are, came out in 2018 and looked at blending electronics into live jazz; it was made possible by the Steve Reid InNOVAtion Award, a partnership between the PRS Foundation and the Steve Reid Foundation. Garcia is part of the collective Nérija and the Afro-jazz group Maisha. In 2018, Clash magazine listed her among women advancing UK jazz. She has played UK festivals like Love Supreme and the NN North Sea Jazz Festival, and sold out headline shows at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. Since November 2017, she has hosted a monthly DJ residency on NTS Radio. Her debut studio album, Source, arrived in August 2020 on Concord Jazz and appeared on several year-end best-of lists. In July 2021, Source was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. In December 2020, she joined London Brew, a collective of British jazz musicians, to record a self-titled album inspired by Bitches Brew, released on 31 March 2023 by Concord Jazz. Garcia made her BBC Proms debut with her band on 18 August 2021 at the Royal Albert Hall; The Daily Telegraph gave it a five-star review. On 15 September 2023 at the Royal Festival Hall, she performed with the Nu Civilisation Orchestra, reimagining Stan Getz's 1962 album Focus, to strong reviews. Her third album, Odyssey, was released in September 2024.